Improvement in cheese-vats



WILLIAM H. OBITTS.

Improvement In Cheese-Vats. No. 126,321. PatentedApriI3o,1872.

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M7@ i MM/? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. OBITTS, OF ELYRIA, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT lN CHEESE-VATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 126,321, dated April30, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. OBITTs, of Elyria, in the county ofLorain and State of Ohio, have inventedv a new and useful Improvement inOheese-Vats, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists of certain improvements on the cheese-vat patentedby me November 22, 1870, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l represents a longitudinal verticalsection of my improved cheese-vat. Fig. 2 represents a verticalcross-section of the same in line x x, Fig. l. Fig. 3 represents aplanor top view of the same, the curd-vat being removed. Fig. et is a viewof the separable connecting-pipes and their globe-nut of the supply-tankand stove. Fig. 5 is an enlarged section of the communicating necks andthe distributing-board. Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the bottomdistributingboard detached.

The ure-chamber A having a water-jacket, B, around it and constructed ina tapering form, is arranged beneath the vat and attached to the same bytubular necks C, secured to the jacket B, and which extend through thebottom of the water-chamber D, so as to render it detachable in a mannerto be presently described. In the bottom of the water-chamber D, wherethe screw ends of the tubular necks pass through it, are formeddepressions d, in which the screw-burrs e, which screw upon the reducedends of the necks C, have their bearings. Tllese screw-burrs e havecircular rims e `on their under side, which, bearing against the upperside of the bottom of the depressions d, form with the same awater-tight joint over the bottom of the chamber D around thescrew-necks, while the shoulders c on these necks, being drawn iirmly upagainst the under or convex side of the depressions d on the under sideof the bottom of chamber D by means of the screw-burrs e, form thewatertight joint around the necks C on the under side of the chamber D.By these means the lire-chamber is not only rendered easily removablefrom the vat, but the same means also form the necessary water-tightjoints around the necks C, through which the water passes from the spacearound the fire-chamber to the water-chamber D and back. With the hotwater a certain amount of steam issuesthrough these necks withconsiderable force, the openings in the necks C being comparativelysmall. These constant streams directed always against the same points onthe under side of the distributing-board E would, in a very short time,thoroughly saturate and rot and destroy this board, and also when toohot tend to melt the curd; and to prevent this I cover these spaces onthe under side of the board E with plates f, of any suitable sheetmetal, and so bent as to allow of a free circulation of the hot waterthrough the hollow space g and cross-channels h, and without in any wayinterfering with the free circulation of the water through the necks C,thereby thoroughly protecting the points of the board, against which thestreams issuing from the necks would otherwise be forcibly andcontinuously directed. As these streams would be apt at times to liftand shake the board, I lock the same down by means of bars j passingover it, one near each end of it, and under loops i formed incorresponding suitable places on the bottom of chamber D near its sides,as shown in Fig. 3. The reservoir F, which serves to supply water to thespace around the fire-chamber, when the valve k in the necks O areclosed to prevent the water in the chamber D from being heated too much,is connected to the said space by two short tubes, l l', united and madecontinuous by means of a hollow globe-nut, m, which, when the re-chamberis to be removed from under the vat, is screwed on one of the tubes lL', so as to release the other, and to allow them to be separated, andthus the two screw-burrs e and the nut m serve to hold the fire-chamberunder the vat or release it from the same, as may be desired. Thereservoir F, besides being detachable from the fire-chamber through thehollow globe-nut m on the tubes l l', is also made detachable from theouter end of waterchamber D by having rods n formed or secured on itsrear wall, which rest in open loops o on the end wall of the chamber D,and which can be removed from the same after the detachment of thereservoir from the fire-chamber by being merely lifted out from theseloops.

The detachability of the nre-chamber and the reservoir F greatlyfacilitates the transportation of my improved cheese-vat, as they can bepacked for transportation or removal into the Water-chamber D, and thusoccupy space which would otherwise be waste, and the simplicity of themeans of attaching them to the vat, renders this operation easy andreadily understood. The plates f serve to distribute the hot waterbeneath the board E, and to keep the curd from being melted when theWater becomes too hot. The globe-nut mis used to cut efr" the water andto prevent the heat from entering the supply-tank F while making curdbut it is opened when the valves k are shut to allow water to pass int-othe heater to prevent its melting down, while the re may be kept up.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. The water-heatingjacketB andfire-chamber A attached to the vat, and the auxiliary water supply-tankF by means of the tubular screwnecks C,tl1e packing-burrs e, and thehollow screw-nut m of the connecting-pipes I l', as and for the purposesset forth.

2. The depressions d in the bottom of the vat to receive theclamping-hurts e and form, with the anges e thereof and the shoulders con the tubular necks, water-tight joints for the latter, as described.

3. The plates f on the bottom of the distribating-board E, arrangeddirectly above the tubular necks C to protect the board against thfeaction of the continuous jets of steam and lfot water, and prevent thetoo great heating of the curd, as described.

4. The locking-bars j for holding the distributing-board E down againstthe lifting action of the steam andwater from the heater below, asdescribed.

WILLIAM H. OBITTS.

Witnesses:

J oHN V. CooN, C. W. JOHNSTON.

